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One. It's good to be with you once again, and we do want to take up the topic this day of the life of Peter. I enjoy doing, uh, character studies in the Word. I think we can learn a lot from studying the characters of, uh, people that are recorded in God's Word. They're not put there by accident, and, uh, the Lord certainly has many things he wants to teach us. Uh, most of all, the Lord wants us to be like himself, doesn't he? And so we can learn positive lessons, and we can learn negative lessons when we study the characters of certain people.
Now, Peter is very unique in terms of a Bible character, because there's really no one else, other than the Apostle John may come close, but there's no one else that we can really look at their life, and a lot about their life in the Gospels as they walked with the Lord, and then we see him in the book of Acts, and then he had the privilege of writing two epistles that are in our Bibles. And so we see him before the cross, we see him after the cross. And as I said, John the Apostle would probably be the only other one that would kind of fall in that category, but there isn't as much written about John as there is about Peter.
So, um, it's an interesting study in that regard, before the cross and after the cross, and the way the Lord worked in his life. Uh, if you would, uh, turn, if you would, to the Gospel of John, and that's where we will begin in considering the life of Peter. John chapter one. This is where we're introduced to Peter, Simon Peter, as he is called, and, uh, we'll see a little something here about his name as well as we read this. But this is where he comes on the pages of scripture, and we'll begin reading in John chapter one.
Uh, let's look at just verse twenty nine, and then we'll jump down to verse, uh, verses thirty five and following. And this is where, again, we are introduced to Simon Peter. John chapter one and verse twenty nine. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Of course, this is John the Baptist, the forerunner to the Lord Jesus, and he, when he laid eyes on him, he knew this was the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God.
Think of millions of lambs that had been slain in the nation of Israel over the years, but John points to this one, a person, a man, the God man, and he says, this is the Lamb of God. Now go down to verse thirty five. Again, the next day, John with two of his dis- stood with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus, he walked, looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, behold the Lamb of God. So he's pointing these men to the Lord Jesus. And of course, John, by his own words, said, he must increase, I must decrease.
So we see John sort of fades out of the picture here. Verse thirty seven, The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi," which is to say, when translated, "Teacher, where are you staying?" And he said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day. Now it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone, or perhaps better translated, Peter. That's the way the word is translated a couple other places in the gospel, the word Petros. It's translated Peter, it means a stone. But this is where we're introduced to Simon Peter on the pages of scripture, and he's brought to the Lord Jesus by his own brother, Andrew, as the Lord found Andrew, and then he found Peter and brought him to the Lord.
And we might read this account, and we might come away saying, well, it doesn't seem like much happened here, it doesn't seem like much took place, but it would seem to be that this is where, uh, Peter came to know the Lord Jesus. His salvation experience. He had heard a lot about him. In fact, uh, you know, these men were looking for the Messiah. They're looking for the Christ. I mean, this was the hope of every Jew. When would the Messiah come? When would he appear? And here he is. And so Peter is brought to the Lord. He has found the Messiah. It's an interesting note to realize that these, uh, men, Andrew and John, hadn't been with the Lord Jesus probably more than maybe a day, and they were so utterly impressed with the Lord Jesus.
They were so taken up with who the Lord Jesus was, convinced that he was the Christ, the one who was to come, and they were excited and anxious to tell others. And Andrew runs and tells his own brother, and this is how, uh, Simon Peter comes to know the Lord. Now notice in verse forty two what the Lord said to him. He looked at him, and he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah. His Hebrew name, uh, son of Jonah. And he said, you shall be called Cephas, and that's an Aramaic word, which again translated is Peter, or the meaning of it is a stone.
And as the Lord looks at Simon, he says to him, this is what you are, this is who you are, you're Simon. This is your natural name, this is your, uh, your natural man, but you shall be. You shall be a stone. And the Lord was saying to Peter right off the bat here, the day he met him, this is what you are, and this is what you shall be. And see, this is what the Lord has in store for each one of us, doesn't he? To change people's lives.
Yes, we come to the Lord, and we come to him in repentance initially. We come to him acknowledging that we are sinners, that we are in need of salvation. And we come to him realizing he is the Savior. And we embrace that, and we believe that, and we accept him, as the scripture says. And we are saved, and our sins are forgiven. But from that moment on, you see, the Lord says, this is what you are or what you were, and this is what you shall be. In his mind, he is looking ahead to the finished product, isn't he?
The Lord is looking at what he will make of us. And this is the interesting thing when you study the life of Peter and his ups and his downs, uh, he had a bumpy road. You know, Peter's one of those characters, I imagine he was a very likable guy. But he was a man who didn't always do the right thing, he didn't always say the right thing. Uh, he was impulsive by nature. He could be rash at times, spoke when he should have been silent, and maybe he wasn't silent when he should have spoken, but he sometimes spoke when he should have been silent. But he's the kind of person we can identify with, can't we? I mean, we can all see Peter in us, and that's why it's, I think, so easy to identify with his person.
Not that we all have that, uh, impulsive and aggressive type of personality, but some of the things that we find Peter doing, we can see in ourselves as well. So the Lord is interested in changing not only Simon Peter from what he was to what he shall be, but that is his interest in us, isn't it? And the scripture tells us that we are being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we should never forget that. We should always be conscious of that, that that is what the Lord is doing in our lives. He deals with us in many different ways, a lot of different circumstances.
Uh, we come from different backgrounds. Some of us come with baggage, some of us come with more baggage than others when we come to know the Lord. So many different circumstances and situations, but the Lord is interested in the heart, isn't he? And our hearts are all the same. So the Lord desired to change this man, and that's what we want to trace. We want to think about that as we go through this study today. Uh, Peter, again, he was one who was rash and headstrong, at times proud, impulsive, unstable. We're going to see those things, particularly in the Gospels. But they're going to, then we're going to see what the Lord made of him after the cross, and uh, how he used him mightily.
I mean, just think about it, the night before the crucifixion, he was afraid to tell a little servant girl that he even knew Jesus. In fact, he lied. He cursed. But it wasn't that many days after that, that, uh, we see Peter standing before thousands, telling the Jewish leaders, you crucified the Christ, boldly, without fear. What a transformation. And so we want to keep that in mind as we go through this. Verse forty two here, John chapter one and verse forty two, As he says to him once again, you are Simon the son of Jonah, and you shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone.
Uh, obviously we know this, the names in the Bible have tremendous significance, don't they? Um, perhaps we don't so much do that in our own lives. Some of us maybe do. Maybe we named our children, uh, because maybe we had someone else in mind. Maybe we had a Bible character in mind. But names are important, particularly in the Bible. Uh, you think of some names that were changed. What comes to your mind? Well, Abraham was Abram, wasn't he? Sarah was Sarai. The Lord changed both of their names. Jacob to Israel. One of the most profound changing of names, I guess, that we have in the scriptures, and the Lord is the one who changed it.
But you can even think, um, not particularly in spiritual terms, or we think from changing a name from one thing to the other, as the Lord is doing here to Peter, but even in a pagan world. Remember, when Joseph went to Egypt, his name was changed, wasn't it? From Joseph to Zathnath Peneah. I don't know what that means, but his name was changed to an Egyptian name. Think of Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, his name changed to Shadrach. Mishael, his name changed to Mesha. And Azariah, his cha- name changed to Abednego, Abednego.
And Daniel, his name changed to Belshazzar. And those names, of course, were taken, these, these Hebrew young men, their names were changed to Babylonian names. And what was the whole point of that? To, to strip them of their identity. See, there was a purpose, there was a meaning behind changing those names. And so it is as the Lord here. You are Simon, you shall be called Cephas or Peter. Now, it's interesting to notice when you read through the Gospels that the Lord never addressed Simon Peter as Peter. He referred to him as Peter. You are Peter, upon this rock I will build my church, but he, he never addressed him as Peter.
He addressed him as Simon. It's interesting. He was in the process of making him what he shall be in Peter, and he wasn't quite there as we read through the Gospels. Well, whether we have a name change in our lives or whether we don't, and most of us most likely wouldn't, the fact remains the same that the Lord is interested in changing us, in working in our hearts, in molding us and making us to be what he wants us to be. Now, the question for us is, are we allowing him to do that? Are we, uh, allowing him to do that change?
Are we learning the lessons of life? Do we think about the things that come our way? Do we ponder them? Do we wonder what the Lord has in it? Do we wonder why? Not in a, in a bad sense, in a negative sense, but wondering, what is the Lord doing? What is the Lord trying to teach me in this situation, in this tribulation, in this problem? Or are we fighting the Lord? And do we complain at every turn in life? Do we disobey the Lord? See, are we yielding and learning, or are we doing the opposite? And so we need to think about that.
How is the Lord, uh, dealing with us? Let's turn back to the Ma- the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew in chapter four, and at the same time, turn to Luke chapter five. Right, Matthew chapter four and Luke chapter five. Next thing we want to look at here is the Lord calling these men, and of course Peter, one of them, to follow him. Now, uh, we want to notice these two accounts in particular, Matthew's account and then also Mark's account, but then we want to look at Luke chapter five, for it seems to be, to me anyhow, a different, uh, calling.
Some would see these three all as the same calling, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but it seems to me that Luke's account is a bit different than what we find in Matthew and Mark, and I would think, therefore, that it's perhaps a, a separate calling focused on Peter. So we wanna, we wanna look at that. And obviously, in this study today, we can't look at every detail of Peter's life, and that isn't really my, my burden. I'm trying to think through the life of Peter at things that, as he looked back in his life, these would have been things that really made an impression on his heart. We all have those things, don't we?
You think back through life, and there's just, there's, there's things that come to mind. There's things we never forget. Maybe they were traumatic, maybe there were tremendous times of joy, maybe it was a tremendous experience in, in learning something, in discovering a truth of the word of God. Whatever it might have been, it's one of those things that's embedded in our memories, and we learn from them, and we grow in them. And that's the kind of things I would like to, to look at in Peter's life, and, and I think this is one of those. Matthew chapter four, look at verses eighteen through twenty. It says, and Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him, and going on from there, he saw two others, and and so on he called them. But we're thinking here about Peter. Uh, this event probably happened, uh, within a year of when they had initially met the Lord Jesus, back what we read in John, probably within a year's time. And so it seems here, at least temporarily, they gave up their occupation. They left what they were doing. They left their secular employment, and they began to follow the Lord. Now, if you continue reading on in this section, or in Mark chapter one, uh, verses twenty three and following, let's just read that.
Jesus went all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. Great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. And I read that to point out this, that in these, uh, days after the Lord had called them and they left their fishing and they began to follow the Lord, they saw some unbelievable things that the Lord could do.
They were learning of him. Peter was watching the Lord. He saw him operate. He saw him heal the sick. He saw him perform these tremendous miracles. They heard his teaching. His fame was growing round about the reason, the region, and Peter is an eyewitness to this, you see. He's with the Lord at this point in time. Uh, in Mark's account, it's not recorded here in Matthew, but in Mark's account is recorded the, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. So there too, he saw something miraculous happen in his own home, the healing of his mother-in-law.
So praying, teaching, miracles, healing, uh, fame, multitudes following the Lord Jesus. So they're seeing him do amazing, amazing things. Things that are being embedded, you see, in Peter's mind that he would never ever forget. Now let's turn to Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. And we want to spend a little time with this particular account. Now again, some people see this, uh, re- what's recorded here in Luke chapter five, verses one through eleven as the same calling as what we just read in Matthew, and also what's recorded in Mark chapter one.
But there are differences. Uh, the men were fishing when the Lord saw them in Matthew and Mark, and they're done fishing here, as as we will read this in a moment. Um, the Lord did not enter the boat in Matthew and Mark, and here he did. There's no, uh, great recording of a catch of fish in Matthew and Mark's account, but there is here. And I would tend to think that this, what's before us here in Luke chapter five, is a second call. These men have apparently and perhaps went back to fishing after being with the Lord for a while.
They went back to their business, not in a, in a negative way or in a sinful way or anything like that, but they went back to what they were doing, and now the Lord is going to call them, and this seems to be a permanent call. They seem to follow him from this point forward. But this story focuses on Peter. There's no question, as you read through Luke five one to eleven, the focus is on Peter. And so the Lord deals with him. Now, the others are there too, but he is talking to Peter, and we see Peter prominent here. So let's, let's take a look at this in Luke chapter five, verses one through eleven. Verse one, so it was, as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God, he stood by the Lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats standing in the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them, and they were washing their nets.
So the Lord appears on the scene here. There's, there's multitudes following him as he's teaching, and he thought what would be best to do would be to get in a boat and launch out a little bit, and the people could gather there at the shore, and the Lord could teach them. Verse three, Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's. Interesting, just happened to be Simon's boat. And asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. Now that was one thing. The Lord appeared, he got in Peter's boat, Simon's boat, they they pushed out from the land a little bit, and uh, they began to teach.
But then there's a second story here within the story, and we begin uh, reading that in verse four. When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. And really this, I mean, the Lord obviously wanted to communicate to the people, and he wanted to teach the people, but here we come to the heart of this story, as the Lord is dealing with Simon Peter. So he says, they're in the boat, let's launch out a bit, put down your nets for a catch. Verse five, but Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.
Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken. So what's the Lord doing here? What is he teaching Simon Peter?
What was it that was etched on Simon Peter's mind and in his heart as a result of the Lord being with him that day? Well, let's notice a couple positive things here about Peter. Sometimes we're quick to notice all the negative things of his life, but there are some positive things in, in, in his life, and we'll see a couple of them here. Now let's just think of the picture here, think of the scene. These men had been out all night long, toiling, working, and they came in in the morning and they had nothing. Ever been to a day of work like that?
You toil, you expend energy, you put forth all you've got, and at the end of the day you wonder, why did I even come in? I mean, nothing happened. Seemed like a waste of a day, and, you know, these men were tired. They, they were busy, they were washing their nets, they were cleaning up. And I don't know what that process entailed, maybe some of you folks up in this area know what that entails. You know, but it's work, isn't it? And they were cleaning up at the end of the day, getting the nets ready to put away for the next day. They probably weren't in the best of moods. You know, at the end of a bad day, we tend sometimes to be in bad moods, and, uh, it's too bad for the people that see us first after that, but...
So this is the scene, and the Lord's in the boat, and he says, let's launch out. Now you can just see Peter looking at him, what? Just push out, let's go out, drop your nets. You know, first of all, Peter was willing, wasn't he? He was willing to be used. I mean, he, he, it was his boat. You know, he allowed the Lord, first of all, to get in his boat to do some teaching. He didn't have to do that. Some people are very, uh, particular about their possessions, aren't they? I mean, seriously, people don't want to lend things, they don't want people to use their things. Um, I know someone just moved recently, and when they moved, the moving truck that they had rented ran into the grass of the person across the street, and that didn't go over too well.
You know, people are very particular about their things and their stuff and their possessions. Well, Peter was willing to share his boat with the Lord Jesus, and he's, he was willing to serve. And you see, this was not a convenient time, was it? It just wasn't convenient. I mean, he's tired, he's ready for bed. You know, in our situation, I mean, this would be like somebody calling maybe at eleven o'clock at night and needing some help, or maybe some of you young people, two o'clock at night, needing some help, needing service. It's not convenient. And if we expect only to serve the Lord Jesus when it's convenient, we won't get a lot done for the Lord Jesus.
Because convenience isn't the issue. The issue is, are we willing to serve? And see, in Peter being willing to allow the Lord to use his boat, he was not only, um, sharing what he had for the Lord's service, but he was involved in it, wasn't it? Wasn't he? So we can be involved in the service of the Lord by praying, by maybe helping someone financially if that's a need, by providing some kind of service for people. We may not have to be the ones who do the actual service, but we can be fellow workers, can't we, in the work of God, but we have to be willing.
So let's give Peter credit here. He was willing, willing to use his possessions, willing to go along with what the Lord was doing here, obedient. And so the Lord, we learn here, can from a little, from a little that we give to him and allow him to use, he can do much, and we're going to see what he did here. A second thing we can notice about Peter is that he did respect the Lord. Now, you know, he didn't understand what the Lord was asking, and he even questioned him. But notice how he addresses the Lord even. Verse five, he calls him master.
You know, and just that term of master makes it clear who's in charge and who's not. Who is the master here and who is the servant? And so the, so Peter, and again, for all that we can criticize him for, was very quick to call the Lord Lord or to call him master. And he realized he wasn't just another man. Peter understood that, and Peter realized that. So there was respect here. And again, the Lord is asking them to do things, and maybe again as fishermen, he was asking them to do things that weren't, um, you know, just things contrary to what they knew as fishermen, the best things to do.
Maybe the time of day that they launched out, maybe the fact that they went out into the deep, whatever it might be, just wasn't the things. And, you know, they they knew him to be a carpenter, not a fisherman. So, you know, here's just trying to think about this scene and wonder why Peter responded the way he did, but he did have respect for the Lord. But he does say to him in verse five, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Now he could have stopped there and said, I- I'm going to take my boat back in. You know, we're not going out again. You might say, well, who would ever talk to the Lord like that?
Maybe we should look in the mirror. Do we ever talk to the Lord like that in our hearts, anyhow? Something he wants us to do, and we as much as say we're not going to do it, because it's not convenient. It's going to cost me something of my possessions, perhaps something of my finances, to do what he wants us to do. You know, even something as simple as having someone over for a meal, or having a family over for a meal, or having people over for a meal, it's an added expense, isn't it? But are we willing to do it? Look at the fellowship that can take place. Look at, uh, the help that we can be one to another in the work of the Lord.
So Peter is as much as saying, I don't understand what you're asking, but then the second half of verse five, he says, nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. Isn't that beautiful? At your word. And again, we can say a lot of things about Peter, but one thing we, we find about him is that he had respect for the word of the Lord, except for one occasion, and we'll look at that. Respect for the word. When the Lord spoke, Peter listened. Didn't always understand, maybe said something he wasn't thinking, but a respect for the word. And you know, we see that. One of the other things I want to try to do here as we go through his life is look ahead.
Take a, a journey to the future, when Peter is an older man on the other side of the cross, and look into his epistles and see how maybe some of these things were on his mind or he was thinking about as he penned the words of his epistles. And just hold your place here in Luke and just turn to First Peter. We're going to come right back here to Luke and, and finish up this account, but in his first epistle, thinking of Peter having a love for the word of God, the words of Jesus and the word of God, look at First Peter chapter one and verse twenty two.
He always had a love for the words of Jesus, for the word of God. And we read here in First Peter one twenty two, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Here he calls the Word of God an incorruptible seed. It's that which abides forever. You know, when you have that kind of thinking about the Word of God, that's a lot of respect for the Word of God.
Something that will n- never fade away, something that will never be corrupted. The true and living word of God. Look at verse twenty four: Because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass, the grass withers and its flower fades away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. Peter's had a view of the Word of God, that it was eternal. You know, we open our Bibles, beloved, and we read the Word of God.
We need to keep that in mind. It is eternal. This Word will never fade away. This Word will never be changed. This Word will never fail. The grass withers. Everything we see out here withers, it fades away, it dies, but not God's word. It's from the living and true God. And just turn over to second Peter chapter one as Peter recounts his experience on the Mount, the Mount of Transfiguration, when the Lord, he saw the Lord transfigured before them. And he talks here about the word. He says, so we have, verse nineteen, two Peter one nineteen, so we have the prophetic word confirmed or made sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart- hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.
For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Peter is saying, look, the word of God is not man's business. It comes from God. It's God's as he moved upon the hearts of those who penned it and who wrote it. And it's a sure word. So let's go back to Luke chapter five. He appreciated and he respected the Lord, and he respected the word of the Lord, and that's why he said, even though he didn't understand, and everything within his fisherman being said, there's no point going back out here.
We've been out all night. Nothing's going to happen, and I'm sure as they rode that boat out there, Peter's thinking, this is a waste of time. But he did it because the Lord asked him to, and there's something to be said for that. And one of the lessons we need to learn here in terms of the Lord trying to work in our lives is that his purposes or his ways are way above our human reason, right? Our human reasoning sometimes says that won't work. Or we can read the word of God and say, I just don't see that happening, working in this day and age. But it's for all time. And so we need to obey.
Because the Lord's ways, his purposes, are way beyond human reason. He even says that, doesn't he? My ways are not your ways, he says in Isaiah. Now let's come to the real pinnacle here of this whole account. And while the rest of this was probably etched in Peter's mind, I think what we're about to read here and consider was, was really something that Peter never, ever forgot. So they, they go out, put down their nets, and as we know, huge catch of fish, so much so that the net was breaking, they're filling the boats up, the boats begin to sink, I mean, just way beyond what they ever imagined could happen when they put that boat, launched that boat back out on the water.
And so as they're, they're contemplating this, you know, they're dealing with all these fish, they're busy, they're throwing them here and there, they're, they're getting things together, they're working. Peter, in verse eight was absolutely just awestruck by what the Lord had done. Verse eight, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Peter's just standing there, taking in w- what he, what just happened.
Probably thinking about, at least what was in his mind, maybe he didn't say it, but thinking about what his mind was thinking, how ridiculous this was. We're not gonna catch anything. And see what he, what he failed to think through was who was in that boat with him. The one who was able, able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that he could ask or think. And so we learn the lesson, don't we, that the Lord's power is far greater than human ability. They already spent whatever, the whole evening, ten hours, the whole night of human ability and got nothing.
And here's the Lord in literally a few minutes. They accomplished more than they had even begun to accomplish that whole night. And Peter's struck by that, the power of the Lord, his ability to provide all these fish when they had toiled all night. And so he's, he's, he's just fixed on the Lord, and he's, he's awestruck by who is with him. And while the others are working, and the others are busy, and the others are dealing with the fish, Peter drops to his knees. He's in another zone. He's fixed on the Lord Jesus, and he's just...
Well, two things. He is awestruck with who the Lord is, but at the same time, he's just overwhelmed by his own sinfulness. Depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. Now, did Peter really mean by that, Lord, would you please just get out of my life? I want nothing more to do with you. No, that's not what he was saying. And it's not that he was getting saved here. This isn't a, you know, a repentance of, oh, I'm a sinful person and I need to come to the Lord to be saved. That's not what ha- what's happening here either. This is simply an experience of one who knows the Lord already, growing in his appreciation of who he is.
And when that happens, at the same time, in conjunction with that, we realize how sinful we are. You can't separate the two. We realize our sinfulness, and we realize the greatness of the Lord. And so this is what was happening to Peter. And once again, the Lord is working in this man's life, and here's, here's an account, here's a, an event in the life of Peter, that the Lord is working toward making this man Simon. You are Simon, you shall be. I'm gonna make something of you, Peter.
And this is part of the process. You need to realize my greatness. You need to realize your sinfulness. You need to realize my power. You need to realize your human inability. You need to realize my wisdom, and that your human wisdom falls so far short. Lessons that the Lord is trying to impress, and is impressing upon the heart of this man, Peter. Now, the others were there too, and I'm not suggesting they didn't learn from this, but it's obvious he's, he's focusing on Peter here. Verse nine, for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had made.
I believe, I think it's the New American Standard says, for amazement had seized him. Is that what it says? For amazement had seized him. You get the idea. I like the way that's worded. Amazement grabbed a hold of him, seized him, shook him. Such was Peter's response. So here's a man who is simply bowing, uh, i- i- in worship, really, to who the Lord is and to who he is. You know, this isn't unique, is it? When we think about the word of God, you think about other people in the word of God, this isn't a unique, uh, experience that Peter had.
Think about the psalmist in Psalm eight. He's out there gazing up into the heavens. He's just overwhelmed with the, the glory of God. He's overwhelmed with God's creative power in what he sees and what he beholds. And what does he say? Who is man that you are mindful of him? You are so great, so powerful, so creative, why would you even care about little puny man standing here in a field looking up in the heavens? But he does. He cares about every one of us.
But it's that same, uh, type of experience, isn't it? Overwhelmed with who the Lord is and overwhelmed as well with our smallness. And again, it's not that, that, that we should look at ourselves and think we're worthless. That's not the point. It's just to get the perspective right. His greatness, our smallness, and in some cases, his holiness and our sinfulness. What about Isaiah? In Isaiah chapter six? we know that well-known account is he sees the glory of the Lord there, and and what does Isaiah say? Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips.
It's the first thing that registered in his heart when he saw the glory of God. That I'm a sinful man compared to this glory, glorious one. Job chapter forty two, When Job finally got his wish that the Lord would speak to him. Well, he got it, several chapters worth, about a hundred questions. Like, where were you when I made the world, Job? That's what he started with. Guess Job thought this is not going to be good. So the Lord just pummels him with questions and questions and questions, and you come to chapter forty two and what does Job say? I heard about the Lord, but now I have seen him.
I've taken him in. I've experienced him. And what does he go on to say? I repent. See, Job, again, he got a glimpse of the, the, the greatness and the awesomeness of the Lord, but at the same time, his own sinfulness and what he had been thinking and challenging the Lord throughout his ordeal. Where is the Lord? If I could only speak to him, Job says, I would tell him a thing or two. Turns out the Lord told Job a thing or two. Solomon in two Chronicles chapter six and verse eighteen— Let me turn there so I read it correctly.
After the, the temple was built and Solomon dedicated the temple, and he's praying to the Lord, he says in two Chronicles six eighteen, but will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. I mean, Solomon was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that here's this house I've built for the Lord, and the Lord says, I will dwell there. How can he dwell there? How can he limit himself to this little house? And Solomon, again, taken up with the greatness of who the Lord is and the littleness of what his hands had done.
1 Chronicles chapter 29. You know, these are just passages we can turn to and, and meditate on this theme of the greatness of who the Lord is and the smallness of man. But in First Chronicles twenty nine, um, David had asked for offering for the, the building of the temple, and, and people responded. Verse fourteen. uh Now verse thirteen. Well, let's go back to verse eleven. 1 Chronicles 29:11. He says, Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, and the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and in earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you. You reign over all. In your hand is power and might, in you- your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name. And look at verse fourteen. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? Shouldn't that be the desire of our hearts when it comes to giving to the Lord? Whether it be our finances, whether it be our lives, whether it be our possessions, whether it be our worship.
Who are we that we should be able to offer these things? You know, God has created man very, in a very unique way, hasn't he? That, that we can respond to him in, in worship from our hearts. I mean, we are unique among all of God's creation. To be able to get this perspective that Peter had, that these others have had, that we've been thinking about. I mean, the animal kingdom, he has simply, um, programmed them to operate that way, right? Instinct, we call it. I mean, even the heavenly bodies, they do praise the Lord, but there's no option.
That's the way they're designed. They do what they're supposed to do, and they bring glory to God. But we, of all of God's creation, are unique in the sense that we can or we can't. And do we see him for who he really is? Daniel chapter four, think of Nebuchadnezzar. As the Lord brought him to his knees. We know the account, Seven years, he was like an animal after the great kingdom of Babylon that he had made, and uh, he was not ashamed of bragging about it earlier there in the chapter, verses twenty eight and following.
But verse thirty four, Daniel four thirty four, and at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven. Remember, he's like an animal eating the grass, and it's significant that he says, I lifted my eyes to heaven. Nebuchadnezzar finally looked up. Instead of just looking around and looking in toward himself and looking at all the stuff he had done, he finally looked up. You know, just the act of looking up is significant, even for us. I lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and on and on he goes, praising the Lord.
But notice verse thirty seven, the last verse in the chapter. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice. And listen to this last sentence. And those who walk in pride, he is able to put down, even Nebuchadnezzar. And he caused him to look up. So all of these illustrations are illustrations of, of the principle of what we're looking at here in Luke chapter five with Peter. To see the greatness of God and to see the smallness or the glory of God and the sinfulness of man.
It's absolutely essential, isn't it? In our lives? It really is, if we're going to be anything for God, that that perspective never leaves us, and that we dwell on it from time to time. And I think there's many, many reasons why the Lord, uh, gave us the Lord's Supper and and would have his church to celebrate the Lord's Supper every week. I think there's many reasons for it, and this is one of them, that we would realize our sinfulness, and we see those emblems, and we realize God had to come in a body and die for our sins and suffer and bleed horrendously for our sins.
And to realize who we are and who he is, and a constant reminder of that. Well, Peter was so impressed that it says at the end of verse eleven, Luke five eleven, they, all of them, but Peter as well, forsook all and followed him. And again, this seems to be, at this point in Peter's life, it was a permanent, um, separation from his secular business, his fishing, his life. And now he's going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ from this part, from this time forward.
And what we have recorded here as well is, is one of the commissions, one of the three commissions, as I see it, that the Lord gave to Peter. And this one is, you shall be a fisher of men. And we'll see how that works out in Peter's life when we get to that point. Let's pray. Our God and our Father. Oh Lord, we we just struggle for words sometimes to explain your greatness, your awesomeness, your power, your glory, your majesty. Our language doesn't... just doesn't have the words.
But Father, help us in our hearts to be awestruck as Peter was on that day, with your greatness and who you are. Father, we think about how you work in our lives and how we can see these things if we but take the time to meditate and to consider who you are. Lord, help us in our lives as different circumstances and different ways in which you work with each one of us, but you are trying to impress this point upon us, time and time again, of how great you are and of how small we are.
Lord, may we never lose sight of that great truth, for we do ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.